Tuesday, December 11, 2007

The Black Kitten

I have failed you. But I did know what else to do. Should I stop and go under the car to pick you up. Then where should I bring you to? I do not know the nearest help. I felt as helpless as you. I am now punished by thoughts of how you fared. I feel angry at the inconsiderate driver who knocked you down.

I cry now for you. Did you manage to get up and crawl to safety? Or did more cars come to knock you down until you are no longer the black kitten I saw this morning? Why are humans so cold-hearted nowadays? Why didn't I stop and pick you up to safety, until I can figure out what to do to save you?

I feel irresponsible. I feel that I have failed you. I feel that I have failed myself. Because I have pledged to help those who cannot defend themselves like you. I wish now that if God has taken your life, let it be quick and pain-less. What now, should I answer to God. That I have failed you.

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Sunday, December 09, 2007

The Golden Compass

The Golden Compass poster

Synopsis:

Lyra Belacqua is an orphan who lives happily in Jordan College, Oxford, playing with local boys and terrorising the professors. However, when Lyra overhears scholars discussing a plot against her uncle, Lord Asriel, centering around a mysterious substance called Dust, her curiosity is roused. Soon Lyra is in over her head as she uncovers a frightening plot and a whole new world of possibilities.

My rating: 4/5

Ok, I must read the novel that is adapted into this movie (note to self: find 'The Northern Light' novel by Phillip Pullman). Even though the movie tells sufficiently of the storyline, I still need to understand some finer details to get the big picture. But it doesn't need me to read the book to know why some people are crying foul about this movie being anti-Christians. The Magisterium officer looks like he's wearing a priest robe and the leader slightly resembled the Pope (no puns intended). Enough said.

My two cents' worth:

I do feel a strong objection to Mr Pullman's statement in the Time magazine, that religion should not get mixed up with every day life. Yes, some religion-based organisations are fanatical, but it's not the religion itself which is at fault. After all, religion is to guide people through every day's life, guiding us on human relations, human-environment relations, etc. It provides a sense of purpose to us human beings as well. Otherwise, people would be asking, 'Why should I do good deeds? What good does it come from it when bad people can benefit more?' In conclusion, religion is our moral compass. For me, religion is the path to heaven.

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Sunday, December 09, 2007

HSBC Bank - No. 1 In Customer Service!

WARNING: DO NOT apply for credit cards just because the credit card salesman won't stop pestering you to fill up the form and cancel later. What kind of sales tactic is that? A trap to a consumer, most likely. Especially a consumer who was stuck manning a booth next to a credit card sales booth (read: ME). This posting is to illustrate why you should not rampantly apply for credit cards.

Last Friday, I took a day off to pay a visit to several banks and settle a few banking issues. Three banks to be exact. Sigh. It's really tiresome to be this rich :p

Bank #1

Firstly, there's this problem with one local bank of which I applied for personal loan to settle our house's MRTA and legal fees totalling nearly RM10,000. Since RM10,000 is too dear to part with, (there's a lot of things to do with that amount of money - we can buy two kitchen cabinets from IKEA for an instance, or we can go to Kota Kinabalu for our Mount Kinabalu ascension trip next year) we decided to get our aunty a bank to lend us the ringgits.

I was confident that the I will get instant approval because I honestly think I do not have bad financial track record. WRONG! I received a shocking call from the bank to inform that my application has been rejected due to a non-payment of my HSBC credit card. Wait a minute. I cancelled my credit card application before I even got the cards, how can I be charged for it?

Bank #2

So I called HSBC's customer service call centre to check this allegation. They confirmed that the cards had been cancelled, but it was only this year because I had not paid the annual charges. How can I pay the annual charges, I cancelled the cards and therefore, never received any statement! The CSA at the call centre was not very helpful. She kept asking for my previous home address when I was in JB and then told me to personally go to the nearest branch to settle the payment.

Bank #3

Before I lost more money to pay for non-existing cards, and because Suami Terchenta would not stop bugging me to save extra money this month to go to our first new house (dammit, I feel like cancelling the house purchase with all this financial hey-pening) I stopped by my bank to deposit half of my salary (bye-bye Bali anniversary getaway! Uwaaa!!) into ASB.

Back to why HSBC is the best when it comes to customer service...

HSBC Bukit Bintang branch is in Menara Genesis. To reach there, stop at Monorail Bukit Bintang station and walk a few metres and cross the road to a building with a big, hard-to-be-missed HSBC signboard. The bank occupied 5 levels (if not mistaken) and customer service is at Level 3. I like the way the bank makes everything personalized. Each CSA has their own desk which is kept sparsely from each other, so customers can have the privacy to air their banking problem.

I met with the Customer Service Manager himself, and he was ever so helpful. After giving a short recount of my problem, he immediately picked up the phone to contact the credit centre and checked the amount that is still accredited to my so-called closed account. In total, I was supposed to pay RM240+ before I can bid adieu to my problem. I bit my bottom lip and immediately switched mode to the rarely used 'damsel in distress' expression. It usually works. Including in this situation.

A few minutes later, he delivered the good news - my account has been cleared and all payment waived! No more blacklist from the bank! I can now go to as many aunties as I want to borrow money! Yippee!

I thanked the Customer Service Manager profusely and asked for a confirmation letter to show to Bank #1 that I have solved the credit card problem. Now, that's what I called 'First Class Service'. Kudos to HSBC Customer Service division! :)

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Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Topup!

Siang tadi.
Aku sedang bersuka-ria dengan Photoshop Brush baru sebok bekerja.
PA Trump datang. Seperti biasa, periksa supaya staff tidak curi tulang.
Tiba-tiba dia datang ke tempat aku.
Aku lekas-lekas sambung kerja.
Tapi dia tak berganjak. Dia letakkan hp atas meja.
Dan RM10.

'Tolong topup.'
Erk? Aku musykil sekejap.
Macamana PA Trump boleh tahu aku seorang usahawan topup?
Nampaknya berita tersebar dengan luas.
Aku?
Pasti sangat gembira.
2 minit kemudian, topup telah diisi.
PA Trump sambung meronda2 bagi pihak Trump.
Aku sambung explore Photoshop.
Cerita tamat.

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Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Photoshop Brush

(Entri ini ditujukan kepada Photoshopolic seperti aku)

Dalam pengembaraan alam maya hari ini, saya terjumpa sebuah website untuk download Photoshop Brush.

Saya rasa seperti dapat durian runtuh! Kerana aktiviti salin-menyalin ini adalah percuma secara sah di sisi undang2 (baca berita hari ini: pemuat turun tidak sah akan didenda RM50,000) jadi saya menjadi rakyat berhemah yang memuat turun secara agresif dari website ini. Syabas diucapkan kepada website owner ini.

Kalau ada lagi website yang offer add-ons Photoshop percuma, saya sangat berharap2 agar korang akan berkongsi maklumat itu (Peringatan: Kedekut info tidak mendatangkan manfaat kepada sesiapa) ^_^

Sekian.

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Tuesday, December 04, 2007

My CLK Break Down

My CLK's (Cute Little Kriss) lubricant oil has been leaking for the past few days. We kept saying that we will go to the workshop to get it checked, but we were too lazy to get out of the house last weekend :p

So we only went today after work. We headed to the motorcycle workshop near our house. The last time we went there to change the oil, we were given good service. And to find a good workshop nowadays are not really an easy task.

Anyway, the mechanic informed us that it's probably the gasket which is causing the problem. Besides, CLK has not been fully serviced since... last year? :p

When it comes to choosing the lubricant oil, we always opt for Shell Advance SX2. We really can feel the difference :) For more tips, maybe you can check out this site.

To cut the story short, in total we will have to fork out RM100 to get the gasket changed, another refill of lubricant oil and a complete service on the engine. Ok, CLK. We know you deserve it. Go ahead and splurge.

Since the complete work will only be finished tomorrow afternoon, we had to walk back home. Suami terchenta was so tired that he slept early tonight. Kesian.

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Thursday, November 29, 2007

Graphic Design Part 5

Hasil contengan ekspress!

Siang tadi, aku concentrate bekerja bersungguh2. Sebab ada 2 poster yang perlu disiapkan untuk die-mail ke JB. Nasib baik hari ini jiwa aku sangat artistik. Dan... Aku perlu mengaku. Sebenarnya konsep ini bukan idea original aku. Aku sangat heart stripe dan bila aku jumpa di Internet, lantas aku mencilok idea bernas ini. Syabas, diri-sendiri! *tepuk bahu diri-sendiri

Well, sebenarnya kerana aku perlu siapkan dalam 2 jam sahaja sebelum dihantar ke printer. Masa yang suntuk itu, ditambah keringat disumbang secara relapaksa tanpa upah ekstra (mana bonus tahun ini???) memandangkan graphic design bukan skop pekerjaan, menjadikan aku seorang designer cetak rompak. Sigh. Tapi aku takkan serik untuk buat lagi :p

Nota kaki & tangan: Ada satu lagi design tapi aku malas nak sambung. Perlu buat business presentation yg lebih utama. Dan... bos aku baru mengkhabarkan berita gembira. Kalau ada rezeki (kalau betul2 terjadi, sebab sebelum ni pun Trump penah janji tapi tak penah2 jadi), kami mungkin akan menghadiri course di luar negara. Kalau betul, so suami terchenta, saya mahu awak renew passport secepat mungkin. Kita berbulan madu di Eropah sahaja!

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Thursday, November 29, 2007

Aiyoyo...

… I have to change info on 2 designs, and 1 new design to do. 2 of the designs to upload on website by Friday. All have to be sent to JB by today.

And I have 1 business presentation to prepare. Luckily the other project’s meeting has been postponed to tomorrow.

*Claw my eyes out*

I’m so bogged down.

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Monday, November 26, 2007

I can't update the blog because I'm busy comparing loan brochures

One fine day, one couple went shopping at Jusco. At Jusco, they decided to buy a house. Other people go to Jusco to buy smaller things, but they went there and bought a house. Other people save up a lifetime to buy their dream house, but this couple, this crazy couple, bought a house without any savings at all except for the savings to go to their dream honeymoon in Bali.

It was just one of my many impromptu habits of waking up one day and saying, ‘Hey, let’s do something outrageous.’ Like buying a house without any money for the downpayment.
(Before this incident, I once decided to go to Australia, called my dad to give me some money and then boarded a flight to Melbourne.)

Luckily, it was a university-sponsored trip then. And luckily, in this scenario now, we only need to pay RM1000 for downpayment. That means that we have to apply for full housing loan.

To be honest, after that, I felt scared sh*t. Like, omigosh, are we ready to own a house??? What about kids? We haven’t saved up for kids! What about that gung-ho statement ‘I’m-quitting-my-job-no-matter-what-happens’? Now cannot-quit-no-matter-what!

Then again, I persuaded myself that this is totally the right thing to do. Properties in KL are not getting any cheaper. Anytime, we might get kicked out of our rented house, if the owner decided to occupy the place. Or, we might be forced to pay higher rentals in subsequent years and we are not even getting anything at the end of the day! So, buy a house now while it’s still affordable!

We’ve gone through several housing loan brochures and have submitted our documents to one bank we felt is the most competitive. But, if anyone of you out there who had purchased a property under construction (an apartment, to be precise) and have any advice on which loan is the best, please drop comments. We really appreciate it!

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Tuesday, November 13, 2007

A Happy News

JEN’S GOT A BOYFRIEND! JEN’S GOT A BOYFRIEND! JEN’S GOT A BOYFRIEND! =)

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Monday, November 12, 2007

Little Carneyz will be named...

Attention!

Kepada sesiapa yang baca story ini, lepas tu ingat aku dah jadi mak duyong pregnant, harap segera buat pembetulan otak di wad sakit mental, Batu 7. Sebenarnya ini ialah dialog yang dipanggil ‘family planning’. Segala kesulitan adalah ditanggung sendiri. Terima kasih!

Akhir-akhir ini, kami selalu berbincang soal yang serius. Soal anak. Atau sebenarnya. Aku selalu berbincang soal yang serius. Nama bakal anak. Malam semalam, lepas membaca bedtime story book (katalog IKEA!), kami berbual-bual sebelum berguling2 mendodoikan mata. Topik yang sama dibincangkan.

Aku: Tahun depan, kalau ada rezeki dapat Little Carneyz, kita nak beri nama apa?

Suami Terchenta (separa sedar): Hmm..? Tak tau. Berilah nama yang ada makna.

Aku: Orang suka nama ‘Aleeya’. Orang suka nama ‘Ayeesha’ juga, tapi mesti mak tak setuju.

Suami Terchenta: Aleeya tu ada maksud ke?

Aku: Tak tau lagi. Besok la Google jawapan standard!

Suami Terchenta: … (ntah apa2 la wife aku nih)

Aku: Ada jiran kiteorang kat Bintulu dulu, nama anak dia semua start dengan huruf ‘Q’.

Suami Terchenta: Hmm? Macam nombor plet kereta Sarawak je?

(Gedebuk! Suami Terchenta dibantai dengan sebiji bantal busuk)

Aku: Serius la! Kalau kita nak bagi nama anak, mesti la ada persamaan… baru orang tau dieorang adik-beradik!

Suami Terchenta: …

Aku: Pastu member orang ni, nama dia Mediha (hi Mediha!), suami dia nama Wan. Pastu nama anak dieorang Wan Mikhail. W & M welcomes WM. Sweet kan? Kalau kita nak ikut cam dieorang, kita nak bagi nama apa yang start ngan J ngan K?

Suami Terchenta: Oklah dengan nada tegas dan yakin!

Aku: Ok, apa?

Suami Terchenta: Kita bagi nama anak kita… JK Rowlings.

Aku: (terasa macam nak belasah dia sekali lagi, tapi tak jadi sebab rasa geli hati yang amat sangat. Dasar si Spongebob Squarepants!)

On second thoughts, kalau nama anak kami JK Rowlings binti Junaidix, kami boleh la jadi super millionaire! *ibubapa materialistik!*

Hari ini... stress lagi cari brand sample. Kepala dah terasa nak pecah!

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